Target 7 has learned that unemployed New Mexicans who were receiving unemployment checks for months are now being asked to pay that money back because their former employers contested their claims.

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When father-of-two Toby Villanueva started receiving unemployment benefits, he never anticipated the nightmare that was to come.

"I just continued getting it, then it ran out, then I filed for an extension and kept getting it," Villanueva said.

Same with former secretary Rosina Martinez, 71, who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratories for 30 years.

"I assumed everything was fine," Martinez said.

For months, the two New Mexicans received thousands of dollars from the unemployment office until a jaw-dropping letter. The letter said their employers were protesting their claims.

What Villanueva and Martinez didnt know was that their employers had appealed months before, which means they had been cashing check after check they ended up not being entitled to. Between the two of them, they owe $20,000 back to the state.

"I was shocked," Martinez said. "I asked them the question, why did it take you that long to notify me?"

The answer is mind-boggling. Target 7 has uncovered a huge problem in New Mexico's system. By law, New Mexico employers have 15 days to appeal an unemployment claim. Because of a massive backlog, Target 7 learned that unemployed New Mexicans were not alerted of appeals for up to six months.

"I would have found other ways to pay my bills and feed the kids and everything else," Villanueva said.

New Mexico is one of the worst states in the nation when it comes to "improper unemployment payments."

Yet, neighboring state Oklahoma is one of the best. It notifies claimants within days of an appeal.

So, why was this state policy acceptable? And why should unemployed New Mexicans be on the hook, if the state waited so long to tell them something was wrong? For more than a week, Target 7 tried to meet with the secretary of Workforce Solutions for some answers, but she was unavailable every time Target 7 asked.

The state now alerts people of their appeals within seven days, but that doesn't change things for New Mexicans caught up in the old system.

Both Martinez and Villanueva have no idea how they're going to pay the money back, but both believe the state should clean up the mess because it made the error.

Neither Villanueva or Martinez had any idea that they weren't eligible for benefits. They said they were urged by Workforce Solutions to apply.

However, it's a federal mandate that the unemployment office has to keep paying benefits while a case is being appealed, unless the claimant decides not to take the money.